"There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.

I don't know a single person who doesn't go out of his way to lower his taxes. Apple is not "not paying taxes" but rather trying to keep more of what it made... just like everyone else.

The current administration has made the US a non business friendly country. Apple’s accountants have found legal ways to allocate about 70 percent of its profits overseas, where tax rates are often much lower.

Apple created two Irish subsidiaries — today named Apple Operations International and Apple Sales International — and built a glass-encased factory amid the green fields of Cork. The Irish government offered Apple tax breaks in exchange for jobs. Seems like a fair deal to me.

Each of those jobs creates a wage that is then taxed. This is good government policy in action... coincidentally something each of the republican presidential candidates advocated for as ultimately it creates more wealth for the country.

Now, Obama's policy is to make large taxes on business and then make large taxes on citizens all while spending higher and higher.

Apple created two Irish subsidiaries — today named Apple Operations International and Apple Sales International — and built a glass-encased factory amid the green fields of Cork. The Irish government offered Apple tax breaks in exchange for jobs. Seems like a fair deal to me.

Apple has Z-E-R-O employees in Ireland. So Ireland gets absolutely nothing in return.

The subsidiaries are nothing but shells designed to evade tax. They employ nobody and produce nothing.

The Irish economy until recently was based entirely on EU agricultural subsidies. These subsidies were used by the Irish government to bribe many foreign companies to set up factories and offices. The 'Celtic Tiger' economy was nothing but an illusion.

The GFC ended the subsidies. The foreign companies simply closed their factories and offices and went home because they made no money without massive subsidies.

The current administration has made the US a non business friendly country. Apple’s accountants have found legal ways to allocate about 70 percent of its profits overseas, where tax rates are often much lower.

They basically keep their profits in a hole in the earth in Ireland somewhere while contributing absolutely nothing to that economy. Its not just Apple, its common practice in the United States.

Hell, even that Republican Presidential Candidate you brought up evades taxation like the best of them. When your Republican Presidential Candidate has an offshore bank account, you're in deep shit.

We need to absolutely reform this chronically broken system. I'm in favor of waiving Apple's repatriation tax in exchange for job creation, but only if its followed by the subsequent raising of tariffs to make up the difference in corporate taxation.

They basically keep their profits in a hole in the earth in Ireland somewhere while contributing absolutely nothing to that economy.

Did you forget jobs? They create numerous jobs each of which are taxed at the standard rate. Its a MASSIVE benefit to that economy.

Hell, even that Republican Presidential Candidate you brought up evades taxation like the best of them. When your Republican Presidential Candidate has an offshore bank account, you're in deep shit.

I mentioned no specific republican presidential candidate as all of them were advocating for a simpler tax code. You're the one smearing Romney referencing off shore investments made by a 3rd party investment company to which he was not even privy to how that was invested... Coincidentally enough, that information was obtained and made public ILLEGALLY by the Obama administration... a president who also has offshore investments made for him the same way. The leftist media didn't cover that though.

We need to absolutely reform this chronically broken system.

I tried. I voted republican.

I'm in favor of waiving Apple's repatriation tax in exchange for job creation, but only if its followed by the subsequent raising of tariffs to make up the difference in corporate taxation.

I agree with rand paul's suggestion of making corporate tax a flat 5%. It's low, yet its better than nothing which the US gets when business goes overseas. That 5% taxation grows exponentially when you consider the number of employees that that business will create each taxed at the standard rate.

But apparently we can't have that as only republicans are advocating sensible taxation like this.